BOOKS BY ANANTA Welcome to Satsang with Ananta

Q: [Broken English] Father, but it can still play like that now, the mind probably will come up like that once. ‘You are still on the way.’ Still knowing the true position and you just allow it because you See it.

A: Allowing it to appear and disappear is different from giving it your assent and putting on the mask of ‘the special one’. And both are allowed, actually, ultimately. Satsang is just a reminder for you not to put on the mask. But even the putting on the mask or not is the play of Consciousness. Why does it happen? Consciousness. [Chuckles] Why, even upon hearing all of this hundreds of times in Satsang, do we still do it? Consciousness. It’s just that one aspect has the role of the alarm clock, saying ‘Don’t do that, don’t do that’ knowing fully well that ‘If it wants to, it will do that’. [Chuckles] You know what I am saying?

Q: Yeah. But some…,

A: It’s just in the qualitative play it seems to play differently; that’s all that happens. Whether you put on the mask or not, to Consciousness, nothing has ever really happened. Just in the play, it can seem like we play unburdened without the mask; and we play burdened with the mask. And yet, as long as Consciousness wants to play with the mask, it will.

Q: Just reminds me; in the retreat when I asked this question, like sometimes things (like maybe, for example, ego, whatever) still the mind would sell me that; like ‘Hey. Wow! Good job!’ Things like that might be unavoidable; it pops up, and I somehow feel the pull to go in it. And then what’s happening is that sometimes there is some kind of stopping and like ‘Hey, but where is your true position?’ It’s still kind of Seen. Still, there might be a pull but it is kind of Seen. I am kind of okay with that.

A: That’s why we were trying to come up with the right language for this yesterday. Just these words are meant for what? Just your noticing of it is enough. There is no other dropping of it. It is just Seen…, ‘Ah, this is here.’

The funny thing is that the mind can play with the opposite position also. ‘Just make sure you don’t buy into spiritual ego, okay?’ Even that can become a position. That’s why I say ‘You got it? Come to Satsang. If you haven’t got it, come to satsang.’ All positions are being abandoned here in someway.

Q: Now-a-day, it just feels like there is just one thought the mind is trying to sell but …, that’s also Seen and I don’t want to pose as anything; but just now mind might try to sell things like ‘Oh, but you are becoming really lazy, you are not really trying.’ And sometimes, I’m here in Satsang and my mind is I-don’t-know-where. I am not actually punishing myself. It’s like ‘Okay, here again. Here my attention went. Okay whatever.’ I’m like ‘Wow…, I have never been that relaxed.’ And I really enjoy it. [Laughs]

A: Yes.

Q: So, I don’t think it’s just my mind-story but I just want to double check, I think.

A: It’s very good. And because you are also around me, so it will be like this, because I’m so lazy. [Laughter]

Q: It’s you! [Laughter] Beautiful relaxation. Never experienced that before, since the retreat.  Even I was sitting in Ramana Ashram, my mind went and it was like ‘Okay…, that’s it.’ I don’t kno.,

A: It is just what it was.

Q: I just don’t want to develop anything about ‘Oh, now you got it; you can even let that go and you can be happy with your laziness’ or ‘It’s even better.’ [Laughs] I just don’t want to operate like that; just don’t want to go there. Just Exposing.

A: Just the noticing of it is enough.

A sense of …,you don’t even have to call it) laziness…, just a sense of …, (this expression is lazy. We are not talking so much about that.) [Laughter] …, in terms that just there can be a general sense of ease about things. Not so much this pressure of ‘Oh, I have to be like this, I have to be only in this state; my attention should only be here and it went here and it did this.’

Just let it go. It plays with all of that…, and now it is gone.

So, I feel like one of the best gifts I can give any of you is to keep reminding you that:

Whatever might have been; You are That, Now, effortlessly.

God is Here. [Smiles]

And there is nothing greater than That.

And You are That.

What’s that story? Guruji [Sri Mooji] was saying one time, he was saying to someone ‘You are Atman not Batman.’ Atma: one of the spellings is Atman. [Smiles] Do you know this? There is one YouTube video also called ‘Atman not Batman’. [Chuckles] There is one in our sangha, Guruji’s sangha, she made a list of the people in the security team. One of them was called ‘Atman.’ So, she wrote ‘Hat-man.’ [Laughter]

There was a point in this. [Smiles] The point was that: Your Atman is effortlessly present. You are It. But any mask that you put on, then you will pose as something. You will pose as Batman.

And this mask is the mask of concept of notion. The mask of individuality is played only within an idea about ourself. All emotions can come, all worldly appearances can come, but nothing makes a person out of You. Nothing makes a limited one out of You. Only when Consciousness itself gives Its assent to the idea of limitation and it gives Its belief.

Otherwise this river of appearance is just flowing on its own. There is no individual me to be found here.

And why do some appearances come? They come because that is the will of Consciousness. So, ‘why’ anything? Consciousness. This is acceptance.

Most naturally You Are this Beingness, You Are this Self effortlessly. The mind is just seller of masks. ‘Oh, you will become a very special one; this one.’ [Smiles] Even the notion of freedom can be used by the mind to make us so caught up in our individuality; and this is called the ‘spiritual ego.’

What is the spiritual ego? ‘Look at me, look at me. I am so special. Look at how I have discovered that we are all One.’ [Smiles] You got the joke in that? [Laughter] ‘Look at how special I am because I have discovered that we are one.’

It’s like the puppeteer has been playing with all these puppets and one of the puppets it really likes and seems very intimate to it; got really attached to this puppet and said ‘This is what I am’. Then in the game of this puppetry itself [Chuckles] it invented another puppet to come and remind it: ‘You are not this puppet. You are the puppeteer itself.’ So, Ananta is that puppet which you have designed to remind yourself of what you really Are.

How long will we let sensations that we call the body…, how long will be let the appearance of these sensations convince us that this is our boundary; that we are limited by this container? Your very experience is contrary to this. You see that these sensations are contained within You; just like all sensations are. You also experience many bodies, in that which you call dream; you have experienced YourSelf with no body and no phenomenon in that which you call sleep. Many times during one Satsang all this happens: sleep happens, dream happens, waking happens. [Laughter in the room] Day dream also happens. Turiya also happens for some (a deeply meditative state).

That’s why Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi said ‘Those who recognize what is there, what you are in sleep state; to recognize that in the waking state is called Awakening.’  But if it seems complicated, forget it. [Laughter].

Do I have to tell you the story of meeting the enlightened Being again? [Chuckles]

Right now, whose Existence can You truly testify to? Can you truly say ‘You are?’ You can only say ‘I Am’. What is the basis for saying ‘I Am’? Why do you say ‘I Am’?

Sangha: It is direct experience

A: Whose? [Smiles] Who is aware of this ‘I Am’?

Sangha: I am aware.

A: It is ‘I’ which is aware that ‘I Am’. It is the same ‘I’. Many times, it can sound like (when we are talking about Awareness and Consciousness) it can sound as if we are talking about two. But the ‘I’ is the same. It’s like a peacock: there’s one peacock; sometimes wings are open, feathers are open; sometimes feathers are closed. Beingness is present, Consciousness is present. Consciousness is dissolved. Peacock is still the peacock. This You Are.

And only This we can speak. Everything else that we speak about is just play of appearances happening in your Existence; in Your light ‘I Am’.

One of the first things we hear in Satsang, in any kind of Satsang, is that only Consciousness Is, or only God Is or only the Self Is. The Truth is One.

But in the beginning, this can seem a bit distant, can seem a bit abstract. And you wonder how do you relate to this? How do we find this out?  We say ‘What is this Consciousness or God or Satguru, Self?’ Then we hear something like ‘It is what Is. What Is…, is the Self.’

And for a while even this can seem a bit unapproachable. When the Master says this, and you say, what is this ‘What Is?’ then the Master says ‘It is I Am’. And this is very direct, very approachable, because everybody says ‘I am’. Everyone says ‘I am’. So, this ‘I am’ is not alien to anybody. And it is ever present.

So, the only thing that has happened is that this pure Consciousness, ‘I Am’…, this What Is’ is covered in this layer of (seemingly-covered) with this layer of concepts. ‘I am individual, I am a man, I am good, I am honest, I have sinned, I want to become free.’ But just ‘What Is, this I Am, remains untouched by any of these concepts. That’s why I said before that anything we say after ‘I Am’ is a story. And if I want to be harsh I can say, ultimately it is a lie. Because this ‘I Am’ does not have any condition. It is not good nor bad. It is neither big nor small. It just Is. That’s why the Masters are reminding all of you to drop any concepts you might have about yourself because it only belongs to a notion of who you are, not to the Reality of what You Are.

And this we can check now.

Is this ‘I Am’ a man or a woman?
This Beingness, this Consciousness, Atma, is it one which has a gender?

Does it have a shape or size?

Does it have a beginning or an end?

What is true about This?

That’s why I call it your simplest discovery because to make any discovery, first You have to be. Can you make a discovery unless You are?

Now where is the trouble? We say ‘All this is fine. It’s okay. Let me deal with the real world in a real way.’ [Laughing] And we pick up the unreal in that way, you see. For most of you in Satsang (and many of you have been to many, many Satsangs now) you See that this is true about You: I just Am with no limitations, no boundaries, no qualities, no attributes. And yet something convinces you, the voice of the mind comes to convince you, that all of this is alright. In spirituality, it’s fine but you now you have to deal with the real world as if you are ‘something ‘.

But many of you have also found that even without the notion of ‘ something’ the play of life can continue. ‘I Am’ has no trouble dealing with this life. ‘I Am’ has no need to pick up a pretense, a mask, because all of this is the will of this very ‘I Am’.

So, now Consciousness is playing this game of reminding Itself of Its Reality. I’m playing the game (the Ananta aspect of Consciousness is playing the game) of being the alarm clock and all of you are playing the game of needing this reminder.

So now, this game has happened. You have been reminded. Now, what is left? Alarm clock rang, are you going to put it in snooze or [Chuckles] ‘Yes Father, but let’s snooze till tomorrow.’ [Laughter] This alarm clock snoozes till the next Satsang.

That is why over the last few days also I’ve tried to look at this notion that ‘This is difficult’ or ‘I haven’t got it yet’ by telling you that it is the simplest discovery that you can make.

Before you can report ‘I am sitting’ …, I Am.

Before you can say ‘I am sad’ …, I Am.

No movement is needed and no movement gets in the way.

Many times when I say ‘No movement is needed’ you feel like ‘Oh, I should not move.’ What I’m saying is that no movement gets in the way. You just Are. Your boundary does not exist.

There is never an obstruction. There is never a condition to meet YourSelf. Because You always are the Self.

[Silence]

Conditions are only for objects. If you want to meet another object in this world, there could be obstacles and conditions. If you want to feel a certain way, experience a certain taste, then there could be conditions, pre-conditions. If you want to think only a certain type of thoughts, then there could be conditions. If you want sensations of the body to be only a certain way, then there could be conditions.

So, in the realm of changing, in the realm of appearances, there could be many, many conditions. But to meet YourSelf, there is no condition. Why? Because You already are That, unconditionally. But as is the way of this world, even for this we have created so many conditions.

So, true spirituality is just dropping of all the conditions. This is what Guruji [Sri Mooji] meant when he says ‘nakedness.’ It is not a phenomenal nakedness. It is a conceptual nakedness. Empty of any concept, any condition.

If our acceptance or openness is just a strategy but it comes from a place of limited identity then you will find that it seems like a big struggle to accept, to remain open.

As long as you consider yourself to be this mortal body, then try as you might, you might say these greatest words about being open to death but the fear of this end called ‘death’ will not seem to leave you.

Once you see that you are beyond dying, beyond this birth and death, once you see for yourself Your own Reality then true openness can come. And as openness comes it gives you more space to come to the deeper recognition of what You Are. In this way, it is a very virtuous circle; which is contrary to the vicious circle of the mind.

Because if you buy the story from the mind about your identity, then the next story will seem more attractive. Then we seem to get into this vicious cycle of belief in our limitations. But one moment of recognition, one moment of taking the Master’s invitation to see just what Is, unconditionally, empty of all qualities and concepts, you escape this vicious circle of the mind. You come to Your effortless spaciousness.

And for a while it can seem that this game goes on between Your spacious Being and your mind. It can seem like there is a tussle. In fact, many stories have been written metaphorically about this tussle. Like the Mahabharata, the great Indian story of the Mahabharata, it is actually speaking of this tussle between limitation, attachment, desire, doer-ship verses Your un-limitedness, Your spaciousness, Your time-less-ness. And for a while, like Arjuna, all of us have cried ‘But will I be okay without these attachments, if I drop my desire, if I drop my feverishness. Please tell me that I will be fine.’ Actually, then the Lord comes and says that not only will you be fine you will meet Your own greater Reality.

This has always been the Truth about what You Are. You have never been the limited one. There is no such thing actually as the limited self. It is just an idea, a belief. And that is extremely good news. Why is it good news? Because no matter what beliefs you had, Right Now, in this moment, you are empty of them. All our belief system vanishes in the light of Your own Presence in this very moment. And the salesman of your limited identity has to come and sell it back to you moment after moment after moment…, our life has gone in this way.

What is Here and Now? What is independent of time and space? Where is the un-changing One? If there is an un-changing One, it must be here, no? If that also comes and goes that could not be the un-changing One. So, if there is God, if there is Self, if there is Truth, it is already Here. And actually, it is All that is Here.

If something has to happen for it to become true, then it is not the Truth. (That’s all that I have said today.) If something has to happen for it to become true, then it is not the Truth.

[Silence]

And what is this pointing to? It is pointing to all the conditions that you might believe about yourself waiting for that ‘one something’ to happen to find the Truth. You can safely throw them away.

Because Truth, if it is true, must already be Here.

There is no precondition for the Truth. Nothing needs to happen for the Truth. The Truth is true; then it must be here. Therefore, even those who speak about the recognition of the truth only say that ‘I just saw what already was.’ They never say ‘I saw something new that came.’

[Silence]

And the joy of the discovery is more like this silly laughter. It’s like when you lose your specs but they have been on your head for all the time. Even funnier, you have been looking for your specs all your life and you just been wearing them. [Chuckles] And you say ‘Oh, it’s so silly.’ [Laughing] That’s why sometimes I say jokingly ‘Awakening is like a face palm moment.’ Like, ‘What??  That’s it? It has just always been this?’

Nothing is needed for the Self. And nothing is needed for the discovery or the recognition of the Self.

[Silence]

The first one you met this morning is the most enlightened Being in the world. [Chuckles] The first one you met this morning, before you even met this body (that which you call your own body) …, before that, you met a Being.

But you have judged this Being to be something limited, to be something personal. Empty of these judgments, there is only the most apparent Self-recognition.

[Silence]

The good thing is that no prior judgment actually matters now. Because the Being is completely full and fresh, and completely available to You in this moment. Your Atma is here.

What happens when you meet YourSelf without interpretations, without judgments, without concepts?

[Silence]

Remember that there is no condition that any appearance should be a certain way.

[Silence]

Unconditionally, You are the Self. [Chuckles] It happens sometimes; I say these words and I look at your reactions and I’m like ‘Are you hearing what I am saying?’[Chuckles] Unconditionally, You are the Self.’ [Smiles] At least to me, it sounds like a cause for big celebration.

Would it feel better if instead of saying ‘Unconditionally, You are the Self’ I was to tell you ten conditions which, if you were to satisfy those, then You would be the Self?  Would that seem more tangible? [Chuckles] Concrete?

So, first you have to wake up every morning at 4:00 a.m. [Chuckles] at Brahmamuhuratam [Auspicious time of the early morning] and start with 108 surya namskars [Yoga sequence of sun salutations] …, that’s the second condition [Laughs] then one hour of Ram chanting [Chuckles] and at 6:00 a.m., you have to go meditate deeply on your inner light for one hour. [Chuckles]

[Reading response form chat]: ‘No conditions are fine.’ [Chuckles]

But you see what I’m saying? Sometimes it can feel like when I say ‘Do this and do this and do this and do this and then you will get the taste of the Self’ it can sound much more tangible and concrete than if I just say ‘See what You are Now. Meet YourSelf fresh in this moment. It doesn’t matter what has been happening in this body, it doesn’t matter what the future holds: You are the Self, unconditionally.’

It can play like this, that as long as there is a deep identification of yourself as an object; then it might feel like ‘I need some objective solutions.’ Or to put it simply, only if you consider yourself as this object will you feel that keeping this object in certain mudra [Yogic posture] can get something special for this object. But once you are done with that identification, You See that ‘I am not this object at all. I am the space in which all these objects come; and actually, even that space is just an aspect of My Being.’ Then, which position matters? Which object, size or shape matters?

This does not mean that there is an aversion to any of this. It’s all fine, in its own place, as this play of appearances happens. It’s all fine. But there comes a point where You See that the Truth must be simpler than any of this.

That’s why I was saying yesterday ‘What is the simplest discovery you can make about YourSelf?’ And this is also opposite to how it works in the world. In the world, if you come with a lot of effort and do ‘heavy thinking’ and ‘heavy lifting’ then you might come to the sweet that you are looking for.

But in this quest for Self-recognition, the simplest discovery is the sweetest.

What is the simplest discovery that You have made about YourSelf? …, that discovery which needs no preparation, no precondition? …, that discovery for which the events in your life, the state of your body and mind, don’t matter?

What is this discovery which is independent of all appearances?

This Existence, this Being, which has played the game of taking Itself for granted, is now reveling in Its own magnificence.

And it is as simple as meeting YourSelf without any interpretation.

What is here unconditionally? …, unconditionally in all ways, in the sense of ‘no matter what the condition might be’? And the condition applies to all appearances; the condition of the world, the condition of the body, the condition of our thoughts, the condition of our emotions, all these sensations.

What is here irrespective of these conditions?

Qualities and conditions are coming and going.

What remains; whatever the condition might be?

And if That is Your greater Reality, the limitless, condition-less One, if That is Your greater Reality, then at best the appearances of these conditions, the appearance of this world, is just an aspect of Your play.

[Silence]

What I am saying is that no condition can truly define the Reality of You. You are not this way or the other. And this is very freeing. There is great freedom in this. Because although it might sound like it is some sort of denial of the appearance, actually it is not. It is very freeing because all appearances then are allowed; coming and going. Once you See that, Your greater Reality remains untouched. And it is only the smaller notions that I could have about myself which seem to get affected by the conditions in the appearance. This applies to all conditions.

[Silence]

So, all these clues are given to you in Satsang…, clues like:

What is it that witnesses all that is changing and yet remains unchanging itself?

What is it which is aware of all things?

Is That Itself a thing?

Is there a quality-less, attribute-less Self?

What is aware of Your Existence?

All these are beautiful pointings, clues.

Are you aware now?

[Silence]

These are beautiful clues to find That which remains without any condition; which is not touched by whatever the appearance might be. And it is in the recognition of this greater Reality about YourSelf that You become truly open to all appearances as well…, because it is when You find that You cannot be hurt and dented by any appearance that you can truly be open.

The simplest discovery that you can ever make about yourself is also the most valuable.

Unlike the rules of this world that the fruits are usually in proportion to their effort needed (isn’t it?  More effort, sweeter fruit, usually in this world) the great thing about this discovery is that it is most effortless; and it is sweeter than the most sweet.

What is the simplest discovery you can make about yourself; the most effortless recognition?

[Silence]

Much more than hidden in plain sight…, we have been seeking the Self.

I am saying these days ‘How may steps do you need to walk to sit exactly where you are sitting now? …, if that is nothing, effortless? To sit where I am sitting now is effortless. To be who You Are Now, is effortless. More than that, to recognize this: ‘I am nothing at all’. [Smiles]

Truth for truth sake means we take away all notions of what this should mean now. ‘I See it; so simple and so natural, I Am Here.’

So, then…? ‘What should happen now? Should I start sharing Satsang now? What is going to happen? Are all my relationships going to get better? Are my parents are going to like me more? Am I able to have more money in the account? Are people going to recognize this? What is happening here?’

So, suppose if none of this had to happen?

We have someone here who is a voice-over artist. So, I asked her ‘Which add?’ She said ‘I have done L’Oréal.’  And what is the tag line? ‘Because I am worth it’. [Chuckles]

So, why come to this Self-recognition? Because You are worth it. [Smiles] Not for any other reason; it is just because You are worth it, for YourSelf. [Smiles]

Nothing else is worth anything compared to This.

[That’s why Guruji [Sri Mooji] says ‘There is nothing greater than the Holiness of your Being.’]

Q: What does holiness mean? In that context, what does holiness mean?

A: Just this. That which is worth our reverence because of Its very Existence. That which is so immaculate, so beyond anything which can be touched by any other appearance.

The holiness deserves that reverence…, and in that way, it is holy.

That which is the All-encompassing.

And as long as there is a sense that ‘I am an object in this world’ …, for all objects in the world it is the formless God, the Deity of the waking state, in the light of which all appearances come in to play.

Can you show me how you could pose as something limited without mask of a notion; without a concept? To pose as something limited, you have to have an idea about yourself. But what Exists, is just All There Is, most naturally.

Is Your natural Existence something which is limited? Do You have boundary…, If you don’t even have the notion ‘body’ or ‘world’ or ‘mind’ because all of these are just notions as well. They’re just a set of sensations which appear, and we have taken a collection of them and said ‘This is body’. Taken another set of sensation: called it ‘world’ …, another set of energy constructs: called it ‘mind’. But all sensations, all perceptions, are just appearances and disappearing.

What contains You?

Where is Your start and end?

Without the presumed ‘I’, without the presumed ‘me’, what do you want?

[Silence]

Freedom is not a state.

Seeing that your Being is completely free to enjoy whatever the state might be: is freedom. It is not hankering around for a particular set of experiences. ‘Oh, mind should completely stop; body should be free from pain; my partner should be free from conflict.’ [Smiles] These kinds of ideas.

How free does any of that sound? If it has to be in a certain way, it does not sound like freedom at all; it sounds like it’s stuck in a box. And the box is all these ideas we have about freedom.

To see that your Being is spacious enough to allow all things to come and go…, the recognition of neutrality, irrespective of the quality of appearances, is freedom.

Therefore, your bondage is just a mask; just an idea. You can never be bound.

Your Presence Itself is the Presence of God. So, to bind You would need something greater than God…, and there is no such thing.

What can appear in this world that can bind Your Presence, Your Existence, and make it limited?

That’s why Guruji [Sri Mooji] says ‘There is nothing greater than the Holiness of your Being.’

I know that sometime even to say ‘deeper’ can seem confusing. ‘Am I looking deep enough?’

[Smiles]

So, forget about ‘deep’ also. Just meet YourSelf.

[Silence]

And if the ‘But, but, but…’ is still strong, bring it to your Heart, bring it to your intuition and surrender it there. Or inquire into its validity.

[Silence]

You don’t have to replace one belief with another belief.

Replace all your beliefs with Your intuitive insights about YourSelf.

Replace all that you think about yourself with what You are discovering about YourSelf in this most auspicious meeting.

This is what I mean: No matter what the content is, what the appearance is, without You can there be an appearance? Can you have the experience of an appearance unless You are there?

Q: Sometimes this is very peaceful; sometimes very normal.

A:  Then that does not matter, ultimately. How much traffic is there on the road doesn’t matter unless you have the idea that you have to cross it. Isn’t it? If you are not trying to become anything or trying to get anywhere, the road can be full of traffic or it can be completely quiet; you are just on one side. [Chuckles]

The way to invite trouble is if I was to say ‘You have to transcend all the noise and come to the peace.’ That is the way to trouble.

But you don’t have to transcend anything. That is transcending. [Laughter] To see that ‘I am on the right side of the road already’ …, is transcending the wrong side.

So, to transcend something, as it is shared in Satsang here, only means to see that You were never caught up anyway. To transcend the mind, You just see that there is nothing to You. It cannot hurt You; just a series of sensations (energy constructs) coming and going.

So ephemeral is this mind that, to You, it’s just another silhouette, like a shadow, that is just there for a blink of a second. Where is the mind now? Already gone. And yet it can come back …, and still, already gone. Already gone is more natural.

You will need at least one tiny moment in time to refer to a thought, compared to the neutrality which is already present Here and Now.

It is the neutrality which is timeless, and these notions about yourself which are in time.

You will not become enlightened person, but you will come to see that what exists is only the enlightened Being.

[Silence]

This is your effortless and timeless Truth.

[Silence]

Such is the power of this meeting, that after this meeting you will See that there is nothing else to meet but MySelf. That’s why I say that ‘wherever you may wonder, you will only find YourSelf.’

[Silence]

Sometimes you will say ‘But…, but I know there is something missing.’ No, you don’t. [Chuckles] You just think you know. [Laughter] ‘But I know it can’t be this’. No, you don’t. [Chuckles] ‘But it can’t be so simple. I know this can’t be so simple’. No, you don’t. [Laughter] You don’t know anything at all.

[Silence]

And if you See that you don’t know really, then you will be open to the recognition that this discovery that you are making now is exactly what all the Sages have spoken about. If you leave all the stories of the metaphysical things and the halos and the siddhis, you keep it aside, you will find that the recognition is always the same. You will find that You only recognize that which You have always been.

And those who now want this Truth for Truth sake alone will find it so easy. But those who still feel that the discovery that ‘I am the ocean’ should still mean something for this ‘coconut body’ will still seem to play with the journey, play with the struggle.

When you look, you find that you are there? Or no? [Laughter] You are there, no?

This You: is God. And the one that is looking is God.

Is there room for ‘me’ here? It has room for all things to appear, but there is nothing separate from God. So, all that can appear and disappear is in the light of God; on the screen of God.

A few months ago, I used to say that ‘Whenever you make a report about yourself, just replace ‘I’ with ‘God’. [Smiles] And those who have some conditioning around God can say ‘Consciousness’.

Who has a report?

[Someone says]: ‘But …, when will I See this?

Replace that with ‘When will God See this?’

[Laughter]

[Someone says]: ‘I am not getting it’

Replace that with ‘God is not getting it’.

[Laughter]

These are not just word games. They can sound like just word-play or some funny exercise. [Chuckles]

[Someone says]: ‘I am not worthy enough’.

God is not worthy enough’

[Laughter]

Yogi Ramsuratkumar said ‘If God is what you want, why are you even open to the possibility of anything else?’

To Be is very simple. Simpler than simple. You just Are. Nobody is taking any effort to Be. And to not Be is impossible. You couldn’t do it if you tried.

So, this Being is Your Divine Presence already.

It is the existence of Consciousness, it is the existence of the Greatest Being ever.

You don’t have to hold onto it because actually You can never let go of it.

And already and most naturally, You know this. I Exist, I Am. Because if You were unaware of this, then even a simple thing like ‘I am sitting’ you would not be able to say. ‘I am here’ you would not be able to say. It is as simple as that. Before you can see what this body is doing, You experience Your own Presence, which is unlimited by any body sensation.

So, if I was to say ‘You are not sitting [laughing] you’re not sitting.’ You would say ‘But I am.’ …, ‘You’re not sitting.’ …, ‘But I am.’ It can sound very simple what I’m saying but what you’re being pointed to is this ‘I Am’ which is independent of any position of the body; sitting, standing, laying down.

You just Are.

Effortlessly, You Exist.

So, all that has happened is This that Is, This what Is, is playing as if it is making a mistake about what It is. This that You Are, is playing as if It is misidentifying Itself to be a limited entity. The Truth is just Here effortlessly. To play with this identity takes energy. You see? To play with identity takes energy and therefore, that is effort. To rest naturally, you don’t have to expend any energy.

To pick up notions about YourSelf, to pick up concepts about YourSelf takes effort. And we are tired of this effort. (I don’t know about you but I am tired.) [Laughing]

If you were to take the effort for twenty-four hours to believe all these notions about yourself which the mind is offering up, and [for that] I will give you a full expense-paid vacation in Hawaii, [Laughter] I would not take it. It just sounds like too much work.

[Reads a chat note] “I would not take it anymore.”  Exactly.

And yet I do remember that there is a time, even when this is Known, where it can feel like the effort is to let go of my concepts. It can seem like that was effort because the power of the habit, the seeming-gravitational force of the mind, seems so attractive that to be just the observer of it and not to get caught up with my belief of what was showing up, that seemed like more effort.

Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] had this very beautiful example where he said that initially it can feel like it is effort to keep this heavy bag down. We’ve been carrying it and that has become so much of our habit that it can seem like ‘I have to make an effort to put the bag down’. But it is actually to carry this burden of limitations which had been the effort.

And how can you See this?  You can only See this Now. Naturally, in this moment, You are empty of all notions about YourSelf. Effortlessly this is here. You don’t have to do anything to create this. Your total Existence, the most enlightened Being, is what You already Are Right Now. In fact, You are the light if this entire universe; most naturally, already, Here and Now.

And if you don’t say ‘But…’ then I don’t have anything more to say. But if you say ‘But I think something more has to happen’ …, ‘But I heard that I will have some halo around my head’ or ‘But what about yesterday when I got angry with my partner?’ …, ‘But what about these feelings of constriction? Why didn’t they go?’ …, ‘But what about my doubts about this path, about the teacher, about my own Self?’

What about all of this?  Nothing!  Because it is already gone.

And soon you will start to see that it is in the picking up of all this again and again that is taking up all our energy, that is making us tired. God being God is not tired. God pretending to be a tired person is the play.

One Sangha member recently said ‘Maybe Father has given up on us.’ [Chuckling) Half-jokingly she said ‘Father’s given up on us so he’s not trying to take us to the complete truth now. He’s just saying ‘You are enough as you are.’ [Chuckling] But this is not true. I’ve always just been saying this in different ways…, that What IS, Here and Now, is the greatest Being ever; beyond time and space, beyond any objective appearances.

You’re here in Satsang to meet YourSelf. You can have many, many places all over the world where you can meet many different things, different people, different objects, different situations, different events, different experiences. Satsang is where You come to meet YourSelf. And actually, anywhere that You meet YourSelf is Satsang. But so auspicious is this meeting that the idea of meeting itself dissolves.

So, if you feel like something has to be done, then my advice is just meet YourSelf without any judgment, without expectation, without interpretation.

[Silence]

You are meeting God

And because this is the meeting that Buddha had and Buddha disappeared, this is meeting that Jesus had and Jesus disappeared, that is why it is this very Divine Presence now that we can call Buddha or Jesus.

As you meet YourSelf the idea of ‘you’ disappears.

As usual, I have some very good news for all of you. [Smiles] The good news today is that: You Are the Self.

[Smiles]

You Are the Self.

Now, why is this good news? [Smiles] What’s so cool about this? What’s so cool about Being the Self? What’s the big deal? The big deal is that Your greater Reality is beyond time and space. Now, this is a very big deal. And to recognize this is what Satsang is for.

Because so far in our life, we have identified ourselves with something which is contained in time and space. All our reports about ourself have been about an object which is within these four dimensions. But You Are the Self…, which means that wherever you might be and whatever time it might be, I can say this to you and it is the Truth. That is why I do not have to pick and choose a time and I don’t have to pick and choose a place; I don’t have to pick and choose your circumstances; don’t have to pick and choose your relationships and the status of them; don’t have to worry about your monetary status because all these things are in the realm of time and space. You Are That which is beyond time and space. You Are the Self.

Now, there can be some confusion about this. [Chuckles] And if you give it to the mind anyway everything becomes confusing. But one of the confusions about this can be ‘So, if I am the eternal one, then what was I doing before I created the world? And what will I do after the world is gone.’ [Chuckles] Because our eternity, it can seem like ‘Oh, that is a very long time.’ It can seem like I have just been sitting around for a long time, millions of years. And then I create this world. And then I dissolve this world. And then again I am sitting around for millions of years.’ But this is confusion. This is a mistaken notion of Eternity. Eternity means That which is beyond time. It is not an infinitely long time. Eternity means that [Closes eyes] in Your light, time and space, they appear. And by Your will, they disappear. By the will of Consciousness Itself, by the will of the Self. So, to ask what the Self is doing when it is not playing with the world is a mistaken notion because that ‘when’ does not exist. There is no time there.

Now, what’s the cool thing about this? [Smiles] The cool thing about this is that YourSelf, Right Now, is not subject to time. Only that which is appearing in Its light (this realm of appearances, this content) is subject to time. It is not that Your Being is getting any older; It is just independent of it. And this is a very important clue. This content is moving around in time and space, but You are independent of these…, Your very Existence Right Now. And You cannot stop Being. This Being is already beyond time and space. So, allow that which is moving in time and space to move. Allow this dance to happen as it will. But recognize Your greater Reality which is Effortlessly present.

Recognize this:

You are Here. God is Here. Self is Here. Satguru is Here.

But this Here is not a ‘here’ contained in time or space.

It is That which contains all things.

Now, it is some kind of magic that this Being, this Self, which is beyond time and space, plays as if, pretends as if, It is just a mere person so limited in time and in space. But this is never True about You. So, all that we are recognizing is that which is already True about You. And if there are 7 billion conversations which are happening in this so-called world right now, 6.9999 billion conversations must be about You as a limited entity. And it is a very rare conversation which is inviting the recognition of Your unlimitedness. And this conversation is called Satsang: the company of the Truth.

I have some more excellent news for you, which is that as you remain empty of interpretations and judgments, empty of concept, the recognition of Your True Self is inherently present. The Truth is apparent to You. So, you don’t have to struggle with this recognition, you don’t even have to struggle with making it stable; it just Is. All that can ‘seem to happen’ …

Bhagavan [Sri Ramana Maharshi] had this beautiful example, where one day he was sitting with his devotees, and using a tiny finger, he covered his eye. And a devotee said ‘What are you doing?’ [Chuckles] Bhagavan said ‘Just like when we use this tiny finger, it can seem to prevent our seeing the entire universe. In the same way, a tiny concept, a tiny notion about ourself, can seem to obscure the greater Reality of what We Are: the timeless, changeless Self. And this is completely apparent to You, Right Now.

Meet YourSelf Now and You will See that it is True.

All limitations, all boundaries, all duration are just notional constructs for You. They have no Reality.

So, if you want to meet the most enlightened Being you will ever meet, you want to have the darshan of that which is Krishna Himself, meet YourSelf without judgments, till the notion of meeting itself dissolves. All interpretation, all judgment, is about something which is in time and space. Let this realm of time and space move on its own. Let this dance of Shiva (for Himself) entertain You. But Now, You are done with the idea that You are contained within this dance.

That is ignorance. And as you are shinning the light of your own Self Knowledge: all this ignorance is dissolving; the ignorance that ‘I am a limited something; a mere object in time and space.’

However, I have said true about You Right Now: You are the self.

You were never born, will never die.

Time will change nothing about You.

You can never lose YourSelf, leave YourSelf.

Therefore, you can never find YourSelf.

Only You can recognize what already has been.

The terminology you use, whether you call it God, Guru or Self, doesn’t really matter. These are just words, concepts, to point to that which is indescribable.

Now, the mind will come and say ‘But what does all of this mean for the body/mind which is located in time and space?’ And my advice about this is to forget about it. Because if I say that nothing has to change, then the mind will come and say ‘But the Sage looks and appears different.’ And if I say that ‘Your very Presence will convey so much love, light and peace.’

then the mind will say that ‘This has to happen first.’  It becomes an expectation. So, as you are recognizing YourSelf to be That (Your greater Reality to be That) which is beyond time and space, then everything which is in time and space will take care of itself; and that especially includes this body/mind.

Don’t wait to find symptoms of freedom in this appearance to mean something for You. You See what you are already. And don’t allow any symptoms which seem to convey that you are not free. Don’t make a judgment about yourself based on these. For some time, just let it be.  Leave the world alone, leave the body alone. It doesn’t need any intervention from an imagined entity.

And as you are discovering YourSelf to be this Self, You will See that all is shining in Your own light anyway.

So, all of spirituality is just about how to leave it alone. Bhagavan has prescribed two main paths to discover the pathless reality. What are the two main paths? They are surrender and Self -inquiry.’

When the invitation comes from the mind to make something into nothing, you heard from the Sages to ‘Just leave it alone.’ But the keeps inviting you and saying ‘No, no, this is a thing for you.’ And the problem is not the ‘thing’ in itself but the presumption that there is a limited you who has to take care of that thing. So, whatever the mind’s invitation might be, surrender it to that Higher Force for which you feel a little bit of devotion to, at least a little bit of devotion, and say it is the ‘Satguru’s problem, Guruji’s problem, God’s problem, Father’s problem.’ You don’t have to make anything something, because everything belongs to the Satguru now. This is the path of surrender, letting go; what I call ‘Remaining at my Father’s feet.’ (But you can pick whatever metaphor seems most apt to you.) Very simply, you are not making a thing out of anything. Nothing is a thing. You know what I mean, no? [Smiles]

The second is the path of self-inquiry, which means that when this invitation comes from the mind to make something out of nothing, to convince you that something…, to convince you of your own something-ness actually, then you use that for your Self-inquiry.

So, for example, if the mind is saying ‘I am not free yet’ (which is a very popular notion) it is convincing you that you are a limited entity who needs to get something…, which is completely opposed to your own Self-recognition that You are beyond All There Is. So, if it says that ‘I am not free yet’ then you enquire and say ‘Who is the ‘I’ that is not free?’ When the thought comes with some answer, you ask ‘Who witnesses even this?’ If there are some emotions, then you look with a wonder and say ‘What witnesses even these?’ As naturally as possible, as playfully as possible, we look for the reality of ‘I’. This is the path of Self-inquiry.

And it doesn’t have to be surrender or self-inquiry. It doesn’t have to be bhakti [Devotion] or gyan [Knowledge]. It doesn’t have to be devotion or knowledge. In fact, with one, the seeming- second automatically arises. So, whatever feels more natural to you is completely fine.

This is the essence of Satsang.

Your Being is here. Unchanged.

[Silence]

They are not coming to a new state.

You don’t have to hold on to anything.

[Silence]

What can get in the way of Your Existence?

What can make a doer or a sufferer out of You?

[Silence]

It’s only when God puts on this mask of individuality that You can play in this way. Welcome this holy fire of your Presence. Welcome the burning of all that is false. Let the mind come with all its force if it has to. But nothing can shake Your true Presence.

[Silence]

Even your greatest spiritual fantasy cannot compare with Your simple Reality.

[Silence]

Truth is neither boring nor exciting; It just IS. Beyond all these notions, beyond feelings and thoughts, beyond memories and projections, beyond the content of your experience (as blissful or bothersome as it might seem) You are beyond it. Let the body do what the body will do. It is nothing but a wave of the ocean that You Are.

[Silence]

Let everything be, including the movements of this body, the actions that seem to appear, the inactions which can bother you.

Find That, recognize That, which remains untouched.

You are the Self. This is Your existent Reality. It is not changing.

The mind is designed as an interpreter of all that is changing. [Silence] The interpreter of the changing cannot give you good directions to that which is unchanging. And I am not saying that we have to come into some sort of denial of that which is changing. What I am saying is that it deserves some of your time. [Silence]

So, what can you say about YourSelf, which is the unchanging?

Q: It is always Here.

A: It is always Here. [Silence] Is it dependent on anything at all? [Silence]

This is the unchanging Self, which is Your ever-present Reality.

Did you do anything to create this? Can you lose this? [Silence]

Your very Existence, Your very Being, is Here effortlessly.

All our effort is to be something. But just to Be, who’s making an effort? [Silence] Just to exist, what is needed? [Silence]

And as Existence is Here, the appearance of these images is also here automatically; all these perceptions, all these sensations. Nothing needs to be changed or fixed. And all the seeming- changing and fixing also happens on its own in the light of Your Existence. That’s why Master Bankei said ‘All things are perfectly resolved in the Unborn.’ You don’t have to give birth to an individual pretend-entity for the resolution of anything at all. If you just hear this point today, you’ll experience a lot more peace, a lot more spaciousness. ‘All things are perfectly resolved in the Unborn.’ Nothing needs your personal intervention. [Silence] No person is real anyway. You are just the Self being the Self.

And I am very happy also that many of you are hearing what I am saying over the past few weeks, and coming to this simple spaciousness, this effortless openness, this boundless Existence.

The greatest prize in the Universe is already Here. Nothing is more glorious than the glory of Your own Existence, Your own Self. You’ve played as if you have waited so long to meet YourSelf.

Just meet YourSelf Now. [Silence]

This is the meeting you have been waiting for.

You have met millions of objects, thousands of bodies, now it is time to meet YourSelf.

All those objects and bodies will still be there to play with, but take this time to come to this auspicious meeting

Now the concept of meeting itself becomes meaningless, because You are YourSelf. You always have been.

You don’t have to think about meeting YourSelf.

You don’t have to create any feelings about it,

You just Are.

No concept is needed, no notion is required.

Your unchanging Self is Here.

Now we are done with this idea that ‘It is too simple’. We are done with the idea that ‘Myself cannot be the True Self’, that ‘I must be incomplete’, that ‘I must be more devoted’, that ‘I must become more free’. All these notions can be thrown away now.

As you meet Your own Holy Presence, You notice that It is fully full and complete.

Now the mind will come and try and sell you a position about YourSelf. Accept this mind, it is doing its job well. But See for yourself that no position is true about You.

Let it all go.

Let it all go.

Enjoy the taste of Your Existence.

Enjoy the space of Your Being

And let all things come and go.

Whatever words have appeared from your mouth, let them go; they were exactly as they were meant to be. Whatever actions have appeared from this body, let them go.

Nothing moves without the will of Consciousness.

Whatever thoughts, emotions, sensations, perceptions are coming, let them come and go.

Nothing can shake You in Reality.